Recording apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus nominally used for recording includes a reproduction section to play digital data from a recording medium recorded with that digital data and retrieval information, a recording section to write the digital data reproduced by the reproduction section and record the retrieval information on a control table, and a control circuit to search the control table by using the retrieval information when the digital data from the reproduction section is written by the recording section, thereby to permit the writing of digital data recorded on the medium with the recording section when the retrieval information is not recorded on the control table, and to prohibit the writing of digital data recorded on the medium with the recording section when the retrieval information is already recorded on the control table, and also to prevent the mistaken duplicate copying of the digital data with the recording section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

A HDD (hard disk drive) installed in audio device used for instancewhile mounted in a vehicle and capable of copying the contents of a CD(compact disc) could search for and play a portion of the CD the userwants to hear, faster than a CD changer, etc.

The capacity of a music CD in such cases is approximately 760 megabytes(equal to approximately 44.1 kHz×16 bits×2 channels×60 seconds×74minutes). The digital audio data of the CD can also be compressed toapproximately one-tenth the original size by appropriate use of datacompression technology.

Therefore, even a CD fully stored with music, can be compressed toapproximately 80 megabytes of data, so that if a HDD (hard disk drive)of 8 gigabytes is available, then over 100 CD compact discs can becopied onto that HDD.

In other words, if the contents of a CD can be compressed onto a HDD(hard disk drive) then a much greater quantity of CDs could be handledcompared for example to a vehicle mounted CD changer that handles about10 CDs at one time. Furthermore, the desired CD can also be quicklyselected and played back.

However, when 100 compact discs are copied in a system structured inthis way, the same CD is sometimes mistakenly copied twice. In order toavoid such trouble, the user has no other choice but to monitor thecopied CDs that requires for instance, making a note of the name of thecopied CD.

However, managing 100 compact discs is very large task. Consequently,the same CD might still be mistakenly copied twice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention has the goal of resolving this problem with the relatedart.

This invention is a recording apparatus having a reproduction means toplay for example, digital data and retrieval information for thatdigital data recorded on a medium, a recording means to record writtendigital data played by the reproduction means and the retrievalinformation recorded on a control table, and further having a controlcircuit to search the control table by using the retrieval informationwhen the digital data from the reproduction means is written by therecording means, and to permit writing of digital data recorded on themedium with the recording means when the results of this search showthat the retrieval information is not already recorded on the controltable, and to prohibit the writing of digital data recorded on themedium with the recording means, when the results of the search show theretrieval information is already recorded on the control table,consequently, the contents of a recording medium already copied on arecording apparatus are prohibited from being recopied onto therecording apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a drawing showing the control table of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a drawing showing a typical display of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A typical view of the apparatus of this invention centering mainly onthe audio signal line is shown in FIG. 1.

The reference numeral 10 denotes a CD (compact disc) recorded forexample with digital audio data for music. When the CD 10 is a compactdisc conforming to “CD text” standards, the incidental text (character)information of the CD 10, such as data recorded with the title andperformer of CD 10 for example, is recorded in the R through W channelscontained in the tracks of the CD 10 lead-in area.

The CD 10 is reproduced by the reproduction means constituted by the CDdrive device 21. Digital audio data for reproduction processing such asdemodulation and error correction is extracted from this CD drive device21, and this digital audio data is supplied to a bus line 29.

A buffer memory 22 as well as a data compression encoder circuit 23 areconnected to the bus line 29. The encoder circuit 23 is comprised forinstance by a DSP, and compresses the digital audio data reproduced fromthe CD 10 to about one-tenth the original size by ATRAC (AdaptiveTransform Acoustic Coding) processing (ATRAC is a registered commercialtrademark).

A HDD 24 for instance is connected as a large capacity recording meansto the bus line 29. This HDD 24 is for accumulating the digital audiodata (digital audio data after digital compression) of the CD 10, andfor instance has a capacity of 16 gigabytes. The HDD 24 can thereforerecord and reproduce compressed digital audio data from at least 100 CD(compact discs).

At least one control table 24T such as shown in FIG. 3 is provided inthe HDD 24. This control table 24T holds information for specifying thewrite source in FIG. 10 when CD 10 digital audio data was compressed andstored or written in the HDD 24, and also holds the write position(write position per the HDD 24) on each track of the CD 10.

For example 100 data boxes from #1 to #100 are provided in the controltable 24T. Each of these data boxes #1 through #100 corresponds todigital audio data for one CD (compact disc) recorded on the HDD 24.These data boxes #1 to #100 are also used as CD Nos. when the contentsof a CD copied onto the HDD 24 are selected.

Cells entitled “TOC {Table of Contents} Data”, “Number of Tracks”,“Track 1 Start Position & End Position”, “Track 2 Start Position & EndPosition” . . . “Final Track Start Position & End Position”, and “CDTitle” are provided in the respective data boxes (CD Nos.) #1 to #100.

Here, along with the CD 10 containing the time information relating tothis track in the TOC, each CD 10 also generally has a different TOC.This TOC data is used as data for searching (retrieving) or fordesignating a particular CD 10. This TOC data is written as search(retrieval) information in the “TOC data” cell.

All track numbers for the corresponding CD 10 are written in the “Numberof Tracks” cell. The respective write start positions and write endpositions in the HDD 24 for the respective tracks (tracks in CD 10) arewritten in the “Track 1 Start Position & End Position” . . . “FinalTrack Start Position & End Position” cells.

The text (character) data displayed as the title of CD 10 at times suchas during reproduction from HDD 24 is written in the “CD Title” cell.For instance, when the CD 10 is a CD of the appropriate standards, thetext (character) information recorded in the R through W channels ofthat lead-in region can be copied and written.

A decoder circuit 25 and an audio output circuit 26 are also connectedto the bus line 29. In this case, the decoder circuit 25 is for instancecomprised of a DSP, and performs decode processing complementary to theencoder circuit 23 to decode the compressed digital audio data to returnit to digital audio data prior to data compression.

The audio output circuit 26 contains a D/A converter circuit. Whendigital audio data is supplied, the D/A converter circuit converts thisdigital audio data to analog signals L, R by digital/analog conversion.These audio signals L, R are supplied by way of the output amplifier 27to the left and right channels of the speakers 28L and 28R.

Along with a buffer memory 31 and a display control circuit 32 connectedto the bus line 29, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 33 is for instanceconnected as a display means to the display control circuit 32 todisplay various kinds of information.

A reference numeral 41 denotes a control circuit to control overalloperation of the apparatus. This control circuit 41 is for instancecomprised of a microcomputer and is connected to the bus line 29. Aroutine 100 such as shown for example in FIG. 2 is provided in thecontrol circuit 41 as a portion of the program to run the CPU. Detailedinformation on this routine 100 is given later on but FIG. 2 only showsan excerpt of the routine 100 relating to this invention.

An operation key 42 comprised of a non-locking type push button switchas the means for user input operation is also connected to the controlcircuit 41.

In a structure of this type, by executing the routine 100 with thecontrol circuit 41 microcomputer, [Normal CD reproduction] and[Recording from CD to HDD] are implemented as follows.

[Normal CD Reproduction]

This operation is reproducing (playing) the CD 10 just the same as atypical CD player and obtaining an audio output.

In other words, when the CD 10 is set into the CD drive device 21, thecontrol circuit 41 CPU starts the processing from step 101 of routine100, and next in step 102, the TOC data is read out from the CD 10 bythe CD drive device 21. This read out (loaded) TOC data is supplied toand stored in the control circuit 41 from the CD drive device 21 by wayof the bus line 29 and then is at key input standby in step 103.

The current case is [Normal CD reproduction] so pressing thereproduction key (play) from among the keys 42, makes the processingprecede from step 103 to step 111, and the key input in step 103 isidentified.

The reproduction (play) key is pressed in the current case so theprocessing precedes from step 11 to step 112. In step 112, the normalreproduction processing for the CD 10 is implemented.

In other words, the digital audio data is reproduced (played) from theCD 10 by the CD drive device 21, supplied to the audio output circuit 26from the CD drive device 21 by way of the bus line 29, and D/A(digital/analog) converted to audio signals L, R. These audio signals L,R are supplied to the speakers 28L and 28R by way of the amplifier 27.

In this case, the track is reproduced (played back) from CD 10 accordingto the user's instructions and the TOC data stored in the controlcircuit 41 in step 102 is referred to at this time. Further, informationsuch as the track No. of the track during playback (reproduction) andthe elapsed time are displayed on the LCD 33.

Then, when playback of all tracks specified by the user is finished, theprocess proceeds to step 119 and the routine 100 ends.

The apparatus of FIG. 1 can therefore perform reproduction (playback) ofthe CD 10 in the same way as a typical CD player.

[Recording from CD to HDD]

This operation is compressing the CD 10 digital audio data and storingor writing this compressed data in the HDD 24.

In other words, when the CD 10 is set in the CD drive 21, the TOC datais loaded (readout) from the CD 10 as previously described and stored inthe control circuit 41, and afterwards set to key input standby in step103.

The current case is [Recording from CD to HDD] so that pressing one ofthe copy keys 42, makes the operation processing precede from step 103to step 111, and the key input in step 103 is identified.

When identified in the current case, the copy key was pressed so theprocessing proceeds from step 111 to step 121. In step 121, the “TOCdata” cell of the data in the control table 24T is searched for as theretrieval text for the TOC data loaded (read out) in step 102.

Then, the subsequent processing of retrieval (search) results isperformed in other words, in step S122, the search (retrieval) resultsof step 121 are identified, and when the TOC data loaded in step 102 isnot in the “TOC data” cell of control table 24T, the processing thenproceeds from step 122 to step 123. In step 123, the CD 10 is copiedonto the HDD 24.

In other words, the digital audio data from the CD 10 is reproduced bythe CD drive device 21. This digital audio data, along with beingwritten in the memory 22 from the CD drive 21 by way of the bus line 29,is also loaded (read out) from the memory 22 at the specified timing.Then, this read-out digital audio data is supplied to the encodercircuit 23 by way of the bus line 29 and data-compressed by ATRACprocessing and the now compressed digital audio data is supplied to theHDD 24 by way of the bus line 29. In this way, the CD 10 digital audiodata is written into the HDD 24 while data-compressed.

At this time, the information copied from CD 10 and tracks (tracks in CD10) is registered in the control table 24T of the HDD 24. In otherwords, if the copy of CD 10 is the No. nth (n=any of 1 to 100), then theTOC data stored in the control circuit 41 that was loaded from the CD 10in step 102, is written in the “TOC data” cell of the CD #n box ofcontrol table 24T. The number of tracks of CD 10 is also written in the“number of tracks” cell of the CD No. #n box.

Further, the write start position and write end position when thedigital audio data of CD 10 is written into HDD 24, are written into thecorresponding cell from among the “Track 1 Start Position & EndPosition” . . . “Final Track Start Position & End Position” cells of theCD #n box.

When the text (character) information for the CD 10 and tracks is inputfrom the keys 42, that character data is stored in the memory 31, andwhen copying of the CD 10 is complete, that text information that wasloaded from the memory 31, is written in the “Title” cell of the CD #nbox of the control table 24T. When the CD 10 data has CD text, that text(character) information added to CD 10 is also written.

In this way, when the contents of the CD 10 are written into HDD 24, thecorresponding portion of the control table 24T is also rewritten.

When the above processing is complete, the processing proceeds from step123 to step 119, and routine 100 ends.

Therefore, when a CD 10 is not yet copied onto the HDD 24, informationspecifying that CD 10 is registered in the control table 24T along withthe copied contents of that CD 10.

In step 122 on the other hand, when the TOC data read out in step 102 isin the “TOC Data” cell of the control table 24, the processing proceedsfrom step 122 to step 131. In step 131, the specified data is suppliedfrom the control circuit 41 by way of the bus line 29 to the displaycontrol circuit 32. As a result, as shown for instance in FIG. 4, astring of characters constituting a caution sentence is displayed toshow that the CD 10 whose copy is being attempted, has already beencopied onto the HDD 24.

Next, the processing proceeds to step 132 and the CD 10 is ejected fromthe CD drive device 21 in compliance with instructions from the controlcircuit 41. This routine then ends in step 119.

[Reproducing from HDD]

In this operation, the contents of the CD copied onto the HDD 24 areplayed back (reproduced). The processing routine for this playback isnot shown in the drawings.

In other words, when playback from the HDD 24 is commanded by way of thekeys 42, the data from the “Title Cell” cell of the data boxesregistered from among the data boxes #1 to #100 of the control table 24Tis read out. This data and the data for the matching CD #n are suppliedto the display control circuit 32. Consequently, the CD #n andcorresponding display with the “Title” are displayed in the LCD 33.

When the keys 42 are operated and the desired CD #m then input, the datawritten into the cells from among the “Number of Tracks” through “Title”cells of the control table 24T boxes is read out, and stored in thecontrol circuit 41.

Next, by using the data stored in this control circuit 41 in the sameway as the TOC data written on the CD, the digital audio datacorresponding to the CD #m in the CD contents, are loaded from HDD 24and output as audio.

In this case, the digital audio data, when loaded from the HDD 24, issupplied to the decoder circuit 25 and expanded to the original audiodata after being buffered by the memory 22. This now expanded digitalaudio data is then supplied to the audio output circuit 26. The playback(or reproduction) audio from the digital audio data loaded from the HDD24 is therefore output from the speakers 28L and 28R.

Information such as the track No. and elapsed time of the track (CDtrack) being played back is displayed on the LCD 33 even during playback(reproduction) from the HDD 24.

[Summary]

Thus, in the reproduction device of FIG. 1, when the contents of the CD10 are copied onto the HDD 24, a check can be made to find whether ornot all of that CD 10 was copied, by referring to the control table 24T,and copy implemented only when the content were found not to have beencopied. Therefore, by preventing the same CD from being copied twice,the useless expenditure of the memory capacity for instance of the HDD24 can be prevented.

Furthermore, monitoring by the user is not required for checking whetheror not a CD was copied onto the HDD 24 and duplicate copying isautomatically prevented.

Also, when not known whether copy of a particular CD onto the HDD 24 isfinished, that CD can be inserted into the CD drive device 21 and thecopy key operated. If not previously copied, a copy of that CD is thenmade onto the HDD 24, however if copying has already been completed,then a message showing copy was already completed is displayed andduplicate copying is not implemented.

Consequently, the above processing requires no special hardware and isaccomplished just by providing the control table 24T in the HDD 24.

Furthermore, desired text information can be written into the “Title”cell of the control table 24T so that information such as a specialtitle can be attached to that copy when the CD is copied onto the HDD24.

[Others]

In one case in the routine 100 of FIG. 5, when the CD 10 has previouslybeen copied onto the HDD 24, the process proceeds after step 132 to step133, and the contents of the CD 10 whose copy onto the HDD 24 wasattempted are reproduced (played back) from the HDD 24.

Therefore, in this case, when the copying of a CD already copied ontothe HDD 24 is again attempted, not only is a caution display issued onthe LCD 33, but a check can also be made by playing back the audio.

The information written in the “Title” cell of the control table 24T asdescribed above, can also be collected and written at some other timeafter copying onto the HDD 24 and in such cases, after copy of the CDcontents is complete, information such as the date and time the copy wasmade can also be written by default.

Information written into the “Title” cell can be written into anonvolatile memory. The CD 10 can also be reproduced (played) and whenthose contents are copied into the HDD 24, the reproduction speed can bea higher speed than the standard speed. The control table 24T may bemade to show the corresponding relation of the TOC data with the digitalaudio data written in the HDD 24.

The invention as described above, renders the effect that mistakencopying of the same CD twice is prevented and that the wastedexpenditure of memory capacity for instance of the HDD is eliminated.Further, whether a CD has been copied or not onto the HDD can be knownwithout requiring any monitoring by the user and double copying of theCD can automatically be prevented.

This invention renders the further effect that, when not known whethercopy of a particular CD is finished or not, the copy of that CD can beattempted, and if not previously copied, then copying of that CD is thenexecuted. However, if the CD was previously copied, then duplicate(two-time) copying of the CD is prevented. Furthermore, the aboveprocess is accomplished just by providing a control table in the HDD andno special hardware is required.

1. A recording apparatus comprising: a reproduction unit configured toreproduce digital audio data from a standard compact disc; a recordingunit configured to write the digital audio data from the standardcompact disc to the internal memory; a control circuit configured tosearch an information data related to the digital audio data in saidinternal memory to determine if said digital audio data has been storedin said internal memory, if said control circuit determines that saiddigital audio data has been stored in said internal memory, said controlcircuit prohibits writing said digital audio data into said internalmemory, and if said control circuit determines that said digital audiodata are not stored in said internal memory, said control circuit writesthe digital audio data from the standard compact disc to the internalmemory; and a data compression and encoder circuit configured tocompress the digital audio data from the compact disc before the digitalaudio data is written to the internal memory.
 2. The recording apparatusof claim 1, wherein the internal memory additionally contains at leastone control table configured to store said information data, and thecontrol circuit is configured to search the internal memory to determinewhen digital audio data from the standard compact disc is present on theinternal memory by searching the control table.
 3. The recordingapparatus of claim 1, wherein the internal memory is a hard disk drive.4. The recording apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a displaymeans connected to the control circuit, wherein when the control circuithas determined that the digital data from the standard compact disc ispresent on the internal memory, the display means displays informationindicating that the compact disc has already been recorded.
 5. Therecording apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data compression and encodercircuit is configured to compress the digital audio data using ATRACprocessing.
 6. A method for recording digital audio data comprising:searching information data related to the digital audio data in aninternal memory; determining if said digital audio data is alreadystored in said internal memory; prohibiting writing said digital audiodata into said internal memory if said determining step determines thatthe digital audio data is already stored in said internal memory;compressing the digital audio data to form compressed digital audio dataif said determining determines that the digital audio data is notalready stored in said internal memory; and writing the compresseddigital audio data from the standard compact disc to the internal memoryif said determining determines that the information data is not alreadystored in said internal memory.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thesearching includes searching at least one control table stored in theinternal memory, said control table storing said information data. 8.The method of claim 6, wherein the searching includes searchinginformation data related to the digital audio data in a hard disk drive.9. The method of claim 6, further comprising: displaying information ona display indicating that the compact disc has already been recorded ifthe determining determines that the digital audio data is already storedin said internal memory.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein thecompressing includes compressing the digital audio data using ATRACprocessing.
 11. A computer program product including computer executableinstructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer,cause the computer to perform a method comprising: searching informationdata related to the digital audio data in an internal memory;determining if said digital audio data is already stored in saidinternal memory; prohibiting writing said digital audio data into saidinternal memory if said determining determines that the digital audiodata is already stored in said internal memory; compressing the digitalaudio data to form compressed digital audio data if said determiningdetermines that the digital audio data is not already stored in saidinternal memory; and writing the compressed digital audio data from thestandard compact disc to the internal memory if said determiningdetermines that the information data is not already stored in saidinternal memory.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, whereinthe searching includes searching at least one control table stored inthe internal memory, said control table storing said information data.13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the searchingincludes searching information data related to the digital audio data ina hard disk drive.
 14. The computer program product of claim 11, whereinthe method further comprises: displaying information on a displayindicating that the compact disc has already been recorded if thedetermining determines that the digital audio data is already stored insaid internal memory.
 15. The computer program product of claim 11,wherein the compressing includes compressing the digital audio datausing ATRAC processing.